Watching the first flight of this giant 7.6-foot-span warbird is a real treat! Piloted by Josef Spielhofer of the Austrian Falcon Wings, the plane weighs in at 61 pounds and is powered by a 3W 150 R2 inline engine and uses Weatronics radio gear. Watch to the very end for a landing that will get your adrenaline going! (It’s time to mow the field!) Thanks to Rcscaleairplanes for taking and posting this great video.

Very nice P-40. I know this is one of the planes that was used in the China section after we got involved after Pearl Harbor (you can see the US Army Insignia. Still a Flying Tiger, even though they wound up being absorbed into the US Army Air Corps. I still like the ones with the Flying Tiger Insignia (the AVG logo and the Chinese symbol). What the Flying Tigers did to help China should never be forgotten, before and after we got into the fight. That being said, the pilot needed to bring his plane in a bit slower and a bit more level so he could “flare” his landing. I agree that he came in too fast.

Ken: I know the Flying Tigers got involved before Pearl Harbor. They flew using the Chinese insignia. After we got involved and the Flying Tigers got merged into the US Air Corps in 1942, when the lease with the Chinese expired, they took on the US insignia and flew with those markings while continuing the shark’s teeth markings. Here is the story from History Channel a few years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EMickdLwu0

All I was trying to do is point out the difference in the insignia and when it was adopted.

Great model.
But why always trying to make wheeler landings with warbirds? A real P-40 would make a 3-point landing on a grass runway (unless the pilot is not that good or there is a strong cross wind). Moreover, it is more “natural” and less demanding for the landing gear.

Well – if this was a maiden flight: I do miss some elements (perhaps they were performed, but not shown on the video):
– No stall behaviour check
– No in-flight CofG test (dive, inverted flight)
– No control response test (rolling, rudder)
– No trim & tracking check (straight vertical pull-up)
– No simulated landing approach
– No slow flight test with/without flaps

Just flying around in big circles at full throttle doesn’t really tell you if the plane is OK, with the above listed tests the pilot could have come in much slower and controlled. The landing looked more like an attempted touch and go…

It appeared the plane was nose heavy, and he did not have enough up elevator to overcome the drag of the grass on the wheels. His right wheel may have even been dragging/locking up on him causing it to do that little tip to the right at the end? And, there was a loud crack when the right wingtip hit the ground, making me think he has internal damage on that wing, making for a future accident waiting to happen. I don’t think there was a chance to not tip that thing over on the nose. It did look nice in the air though.